goodness

Pluralgoodnesses (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The state or quality of being good in character or behavior.

   Her goodness was evident in every quiet act of kindness she performed.

   We rarely question the goodness of someone who gives without expecting anything in return.

   Similarkindness, virtue, decency, integrity, benevolence

   Oppositewickedness, evil, badness

   Note

   The general sense, built transparently from good plus -ness: Old English gōdnes already covered virtue and kindness. It is not reserved for people. Shakespeare's Henry V finds "some soul of goodness in things evil," and Amanda Bevill's World Spice at Home (2014) praises "rich, raisiny, smoky, coffee goodness," meaning sheer pleasing quality. Unlike the nutritional sense, that use praises taste, not nourishment.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   The nourishing or healthy part or content of something, especially food.

   Slow cooking draws all the goodness out of the bones and into the broth.

   Refining the flour strips away much of the grain's natural goodness.

   Similarnourishment, nutrients, nutrition

3. 3
   nouneuphemisticuncountable

   A euphemistic substitute for God, used in exclamations to avoid naming the deity directly.

   Thank goodness no one was hurt when the scaffolding collapsed.

   Goodness knows where she put the keys this time.

   Similarheaven, God

   Note

   A polite stand-in that keeps the shape of an oath while dropping the name: thank goodness, goodness knows. It works only inside set frames like these, where God would otherwise stand, and is not used to name the deity elsewhere. That makes it safe in almost any company, and it is the noun behind the bare exclamation.

4. 4
   interjectionabbreviationclipping

   Clipping of goodness me or various similar exclamations such as goodness gracious.

   Goodness, I never expected to see you here after all these years!

   Well, goodness, that bill is far higher than I thought it would be.

   Note

   The fuller exclamations worn down to one word: goodness me and goodness gracious shrink to a bare goodness, usually set off by a comma at the head of a sentence or after well. It voices surprise or mild dismay, and its force comes from the polite stand-in for God; the longer forms now sound more emphatic or old-fashioned.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The moral qualities that constitute Christian excellence, or moral virtue more generally.

   The preacher described goodness as the fruit of a life lived in faith.

   Their tradition measures goodness by humility, charity, and obedience to God.

   Similarvirtue, righteousness, holiness

   Oppositewickedness, evil

   Note

   Theology narrows the word to a named virtue. The King James Bible of 1611 sets goodness among the fruit of the spirit, between gentleness and faith, alongside love, joy and peace. Here it sits in a list of graces rather than describing someone's temperament, and like other virtue nouns it can be counted as one quality among several.

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